GeForce - the Next Generation
Discover what makes the latest nVidia 3D chipsets, the GeForce 3 Ti500 and Ti200, special

GeForce - the Next Generation
Discover what makes the latest nVidia 3D chipsets, the GeForce 3 Ti500 and Ti200,
special

What's in a Name?

At first glance, the new GeForce3 Ti500 and GeForce3 Ti200
certainly sound new. And, they are the newest ultra-high performance chips in
the widely acclaimed GeForce3 family. They also have a sibling, the GeForce2
Ti. The "Ti" stands for "Titanium", but there's not a speck
of that metal anywhere near these cards. Instead, what Ti refers to in these
new chipsets is their use of a new die-shrink .15 micron chip design, which,
as processor makers have discovered in recent years, has several benefits, including:

more yields per same square footage of chip material

lower cost

Lower cost is definitely the aim of the new series. Cards based
on the new chipsets are available from the same vendors who sold previous nVidia-based
cards (Hercules, VisionTek, PNY, etc.). Pricing for the high-end Ti 500 is under
$400, making it a much better deal initially than the first GeForce3 cards were
at introduction.

In some cases, using a more compact chip design speeds performance,
but that is only 1/3 true with the Titanium-series chips. The Ti500 runs at
240MHz (compared to 200 MHz with the "old" GeForce3), but it is the
only one of the new trio that has faster hardware.

Out With the Old, In With the New?

How do the new GeForce Ti-series chips perform in comparison
to the chips they replace?

The GeForce3 Ti500 is faster than the current GeForce 3, there
is no doubt about that. But what about the GeForce3 Ti200? Surprisingly, it
is significantly slower than the GeForce2 Ultra, which the GeForce2 TI is slated
to replace. The GeForce2 Ti's performance is comparable to the GeForce2 Ultra.
This table will help you sort out how the new chips (and cards) perform compared
to their predecessors.

Getting New Chip Performance from "Old" GeForce Chips

All of the new Ti-series chips from nVidia are supported by
nVidia's new driver, the DetonatorXP. nVidia's biggest advantage against long-time
rival ATI isn't in hardware (in fact, ATI's newest portable chipset, the Mobility
Radeon 7500, blows the doors off nVidia GeForce Go chip), but in drivers. ATI
has struggled with driver issues for years, while nVidia's drivers are excellent
and unified: download one driver set to handle all its current graphics chipsets.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, the DetonatorXP driver, which
works with old and new GeForce chips, rather than new hardware features in the
Ti-series chipsets, is actually responsible for these "new" features
in the Ti-series chips:

shadow buffer technology

3D textures

So, if you're satisfied with your current high-end GeForce2-based
or GeForce3-based card, just download the DetonatorXP driver, install it, and
you have the same "new" features that nVidia is pitching in its Titanium-series
chips. You'll also have much-improved performance.

What, No Dual Display?

As you may recall from our September 2001 look at the new ATI
Radeon 8500 and 7500 chipsets/cards, ATI has decided to make dual-display compatibility
standard across its product line. Using a dual display is almost like having
two computers in one: you can use it for comparing old and new versions of a
document, perform drag-and-drop editing between documents, surf and read your
e-mail, watch a movie and (pretend to) work at the same time, and so forth.
Although all three of the Ti-series chips feature multiple display connectors
(VGA and DVI-I for digital display panels, plus TV-out on two of the three chips),
none of them support multiple monitors. That task is still relegated to the
low-end GeForce2 MX series chipsets.

Performance or (Single) Display Flexibility? You Can Get Both

If you're in the market for a new video card because your aging
TNT or Rage 128 card just can't cut the pixels anymore, any of these new Ti-series
chipsets will be a good choice. If you're looking for GeForce3 performance and
features, you can now get a better card (the Ti 500) for a bit less than the
regular GeForce3. If you want the fancy 3D graphics effects possible with the
GeForce3, but find that $350 is a bit beyond your budget, cards based on the
Ti 200 can fill the bill for around $260 but at a sacrifice in performance -
and no TV-out. The "old" GeForce2 Ultra will beat it in most benchmarks.

If the GeForce2 series is more what you had in mind, keep your
eyes on price changes on cards based on the "old" GeForce2 Ultra chipset
if you don't need DVI-I or TV-out support. The GeForce2 Ultra is faster than
its replacement, the GeForce2 Ti, but if you want DVI-I or TV-out on a budget,
the GeForce2 Ti is the wiser choice.

If you're seeking high-end video performance and dual-display, then forego
the GeForce line altogether and pick up an ATI Radeon 8500; just be prepared
to download new drivers from the ATI web site http://www.ati.com
as soon as you open the box.

Finally, the cheapest way to get a "new" performance
from your existing GeForce2 or GeForce3 card is to get the the most up to date
DetonatorXP drivers from your video card vendor. Test results indicate that
you'll see a big speedup (nVidia claims 30-to-50% increase under OpenGL and
DirectX) as well as new 3D features for software vendors to exploit. Tests run
at various hardware sites do indicated these drivers provide more of a boost
for GeForce3 owners than those with a GeForce2 based card.

Wondering if your current PC would benefit from a change to
a new nVidia-equipped video card? Use the browser-based performance analyzer
on the nVidia website, powered by MadOnion.com:http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=analyzer